THE DEVIL'S RIDING-HORSE (MANTID&). 21 



In spite of all the mother's care, chalcidideous parasites 

 infest her eggs to some extent. Several species have 

 been obtained from the eggs of mantidae of Mauritius 

 and Brazil, and those of Mantis religiosa, in Cephalonia, 

 are known to be attacked. It is probable that the 

 parasite seizes her opportunity to start the career of 

 her progeny before the glutinous covering has acquired 

 its final consistency. 



Development of the Young. 



Step by step, we may study the development of 

 Mantis religiosa which may be taken as the type of 

 the mantidse and see these eggs, on the whole securely 

 housed, change to larva, to pupa, and at last to imago. 

 To the lot of the mature insect short life falls ; in turn 

 it propagates its kind, and that done, in submission to 

 the winter's cold, it dies. The eggs do not hatch till 

 June, and only after a lapse of nearly three months the 

 mantis arrives at the perfect state. 



The young, in quitting the egg, leaves the shell at the 

 bottom of the cell. It already presents, in a general 

 way, the aspect of the adult. Too feeble to use its legs, 

 it employs a special artifice in escaping from the cell 

 where it is confined. On the chitinous covering of the 

 body spines are developed, directed backwards, and these 



